Kampala: Kyambogo University stranded students have petitioned Prime minister Robbinah Nabbanja over extension of Covid-19 relief funds to the vulnerable groups in which they say excludes them.
A team led by the Guild Deputy Prime minister Rt. Hon. Nkurunziza Alphonse, Hon Kamya Carlos, Minister for Ethics and integrity and Hon Elijah Mwandwa, GRC for School of Management have expressed their concerns and need for the authorities to consider the scholars who are helplessly stuck in their residences due to lockdown.
Following the closure of all Institutions of Learning on 6th June 2021 due to the surge of Covid-19 cases, Museveni directed the Prime Minister to identify vulnerable groups to receive Covid-19 relief funds. The theCovid-19 taskforce led by Prime minister Nabbanja later resolved that the government would extend financial support in form of direct payments through a mobile money system to vulnerable members of the public having phones and a voucher system would be used for the vulnerable groups without phones.
However, this decision has not gone well with students considering the fact that most of them have received tuition fees through their mobile money numbers hence disqualified from the relief funds since individuals who have ever made a transaction of over 500,000 Ugandan Shillings are not considered vulnerable according to Nabbanja.
“The challenge is therefore imposed to an announcement made on 22nd June 2021 by the prime minister. Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja in which she informed members of the public while addressing the media that “anyone who has been receiving or making transactions in millions of shillings or 500.000 Ugandan shillings and above would not be an eligible beneficially of the Covid 19 relief plan”, the petition partly reads.
“Therefore the purpose of this communication is to call upon the office of the prime minister together with the National Covid 19 Task Force to be considerate enough in selecting the vulnerable groups of people to benefit from the Covid 19 relief plan and it’s a humble request to the office of the prime minister and the Nation Covid 19 Task Force to consider the many national and international students stranded within various hostels of different universities across the country as part of the vulnerable groups of people to benefit from the Covid 19 relief plan as many of these students are currently lacking accommodation,” the leaders insisted.
